Tuesday Poem: "Switchfoot"

for my mother, Joan

Surfers have a word

for those select few whose ambidexterity

lets them lead with either foot,

always facing their aqueous dance partner.

We call it “switchfoot”

and this defiance of dominance is revered.

Some surfers practise for years,

enduring endless wipeouts to master that moment

when the switch becomes effortless,

a Zen scissored glide as smooth

as the wave they are now facing.

Mother, do you remember that moment

when we switched feet?

Now the child leads the parent towards

that white maelstrom that awaits us all

at the end of our ride.